Executive Education at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business | Fundamentals of Effective Sales Management

Program Objectives
Who Should Attend
Program Outline
Faculty

During the seminar, you will learn to:

Effectively make the transition from a salesperson to a sales manager
Utilize techniques for identifying, hiring and retaining the best salespeople
Evaluate performance in ways that produce desired results
Identify the types of incentives and compensation systems to obtain better sales results
Improve training techniques so that salespeople reach full productivity sooner/faster
Make price less of an issue in a sale
Increase the time salespeople spend with customers
Create effective, motivating sales meetings and field coaching
Determine the best methods for sizing and deploying your sales force

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for people who have recently been appointed to the role of sales manager or are looking for a refresher of the fundamentals of sales management. Focus is placed on the transition from sales to sales management and the skills associated with hiring, training, motivating, organizing, compensating, and evaluating a successful sales force. The course is applicable for those managing field sales people selling products or services. More seasoned sales and marketing managers should consider the Executive Program Strategic Sales Management program. Companies are encouraged to send teams to learn common language and frameworks and to help drive the implementation of new knowledge throughout the organization.

Fundamentals of Effective Sales Management Topics Outline

Hiring the Right Salespeople

Develop useful job descriptions which can also be used for training and evaluating

Create candidate profiles based on your best producers

Recruit the best candidates through social media, on-line advertising, customers, competitors, and career ladders

Screen and selecting the best employees by selecting the right interview questions and checking the right references

Training for Results

Product, competitor, and customer knowledge

Open new accounts through value-added selling

Using social media

Mentoring and testing

Obtain the benefits of field coaching

Make sales meetings more meaningful

Create training checklists and agendas

The Fundamentals of Organizing Your Sales Force to Maximize Results

The model for choosing the most successful sales force sizing and deployment

Define territory boundaries to improve productivity

Use time and territory management to maximize customer contact

A salesperson's break even point and profitability

Introduction to Effective Compensation Packages

Reward positive action and superior results

Fit compensation mix to the sales force product/ service, type of selling, desired salesperson, and salesperson's influence on the sale

Select target compensation based on complexity of sale

The Basics of Sales Planning and Forecasting

Teach salespeople to accurately forecast sales

The bubble-up approach to sales forecasts

Help salespeople plan the action necessary to reach sales forecasts

Blending top down with bottoms up forecasting

Quarterly Performance Appraisals

Have salespeople evaluate themselves

Evaluate not only the results, but the skills, knowledge, activities, and personal characteristics that create results

The Real Non-Monetary Motivators of the 21st Century

Find each person's needs and goals

Deal with the superstar and the plateaued salesperson

The importance of recognition, achievement, challenge, authority, freedom, esteem, status, belonging and leadership

Making salespeople feel useful, important and worthwhile

Create a career ladder with titles

Score boarding

Fundamentals of Effective Sales Management Program Faculty

Robert J. Calvin

Robert Calvin is a former Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he taught courses in new enterprise/small business management and sales force management. He also teaches courses in sales management at Xiamen University School of Management, the Chinese European International Business School and the International Institute of Finance at the Bank of China in The Peoples Republic of China. He is the president of Management Dimensions, Inc., an international consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, plus assisting small businesses, start-ups and turnarounds. Clients range from the Fortune 500 to the Inc. 100. A specialist in buying companies that are losing money and managing them back to profitability, he has applied his proven step-by-step formula for hundreds of consulting clients. He was the owner/manager of many smaller businesses that were later sold off to larger firms.
Complete biography